Davide Piganzoli: “I’m not afraid of the new category, I want to help the team and to grow”
Among the six reinforcements of the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation for the 2021 season is Davide Piganzoli. The Lombard from La Valtellina is one of the two Italian promises who will be in the team directed by Rafa Díaz Justo for the next season where he will also make his debut in the new category. Piganzoli lands in the team after having won a bronze medal in the last National time trial in his category and with some relevant victories in the bag, such as the Trofeo Città di Montevarchi, a national category race. “I’m a complete rider, I like the time trial mode and I also like long races; I don’t like the sprint so much”, he jokes.
Piganzoli, the second son in a family of three, comes from the Valtellina, in the same town of Morbegno as the ProTeam rider Francesco Gavazzi. It was there that he took his first steps: “I was eight years old. My father is very fond of cycling and he also rides a bicycle. He bought me a bike, a Vicini, and the truth is that I fell in love with this sport. It wasn’t just me. My older sister, Alice, also competed for a while. But in the end she gave it up. I started with the Pedale Morbegnese school until, at the age of fourteen, I jumped on the Trevigliese Cycling School in Bergamo. A much bigger team, with more calendar, where I have been these four years”.
The new rider of the Foundation points out that thanks to other Italian colleagues with whom he has shared training sessions or concentrations, he has had the opportunity to get to know it better. “I didn’t have an exhaustive knowledge, but I was aware of what she does. Fancellu and Puppio, among others, had told me about the Foundation, about the teams, about how happy they were there. They are older, we are not close friends, but we do know each other and we have shared some time on the bike. When Ivan told me about the project as a whole, I liked it. It was something that encouraged me to face this challenge. Lately Alessio Acco, rider of the U23 team, has also helped me a lot to know the team”.
As for the jump into the U23 universe, Piganzoli is confident but calm: “I’m not afraid of the new category. I want to help the team, I want to grow and, if possible, also show what I am capable of. Racing in Spain is also a great opportunity for me. Although first of all I wish that it can be returned to normal in this 2021. It has been a very difficult 2020”. And about cycling dreams: “My dream is to win a great stage race, a Tour de France or a Giro d’Italia. But if I could choose, I would take the Giro. The Tour is the Tour, yes, but the Giro is the race of my country, it is part of our culture. It is our race. When I was a child, we went to see many stages live, in the gutter, and it is something unforgettable”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
